How to Clean Glass fiber Optics.

[Bohdan]

This is dependent on the age of the optics and condition.

They can be cleaned with Windex by soaking them gentle the rinsing them in warm water. You must then have them dry very well like 5 days . They must be absolutely dry before you can sprinkle them with Baby powder. I have done this with other newer Optics so it should work. Sometimes they are very old and worn and become very brittle so before you do anything with them make sure that what you have is in good condition before washing them.

[3uo9j7w0w6jdj]

5 days it takes for them to dry ?? and what does purpose does baby powder serve.

 

[Bohdan]

They need to be very dry. The powder adds a dry coating to them to keep them from stick to each other . I have seen Optics in the Spencer stores  and they are not that expensive to buy. This can be another way to repair the older lamps if the Optics are breaking do to age. I have also seen them for sale on E-bay at times. The powder can be applied and then with a fine hair brush brushed off so only a fine layer is left on the spray optic. Dependent on temperature it may just take a few days to dry .

 

[3uo9j7w0w6jdj]

interesting.... well I hope this comes as perfect as described but still wanted helpful info. on maintenance.. after all its only taken me 2 decades  of wanting to have one of my own...

[Bohdan]

Yes hope all arrives well and the sprays are fine and clean looking.

[Andy Ross]

Hi Bohdan,

This is an old thread you wrote that I found.... please may I ask about the process you describe?

I recently bought a pair of Fantasia Sunburst 4000s with the 14" spray, and both original sprays are very dusty, I'd like to clean them up if possible.

I'm in England, but have found some Windex, so, do I soak the sprays in neat windex?

Then gentle rinse in warm water, then long careful air-dry?

Hope you can take a moment to help, kind regards, Andy

ps the sprays are in good condition

[Bohdan]

Try soaking a few of them at first to see how they turn out. Yes I used full strength Windex and then rinsed them in warm water carefully. Then just have them air dry in normal warm room for a 5 days to make sure all is really dry. Just keep in mind with older sprays even though they may look good you never know what may happen so do a few at a time.

[Andy Ross]

Thanks for the swift reply, Bohdan.

They are really tightly packed in the holders, I don't think I can extract them without damaging them, and doubt they'd all go back in similarly aligned

Would it make sense to soak/wash/dry them in the spray format, i.e. in their holder?

I'll try to upload pix, not good at this...

Kind regards, Andy 

[Bohdan]

Yes take each holder one at a time and clean them. I meant to say like take one or two at a time and clean them not to take each holder apart.

[Andy Ross]

Okay, sorry, way out of my comfort zone here but will give it a try - managed to get a spare 18" spray too, so will risk a 14"...

Will report progress, meanwhile here's a hastily-assembled UK fibre-optic line up to say...

Thanks again, Bohdan - much appreciated

Kind regards,

Andy

[Bohdan]

Great line-up. Nice to hear that you have a back-up 18" spray. With many vintage lamps from lava to optics if they look bad and need to be cleaned its always fun to give it a try. With fiber optic lamps the strands will be come very dusty over time and then the need to clean is there.

There are new lamps out there if over time the optics become damaged due to age and should be able to have them repaired. Here is a photo of such new lamps that could make use of there fiber parts this one has 10" strands and there just may be more new lamps out there for replacements. 

[Andy Ross]

Good to hear that replacements are possible... well right now the original plumes have been salvaged and look fine with the helpful guidance I received here.

Used Windex for an hour (neat), then gentle wash, 5-day dry...

and because they were a matched pair there's a before-and-after plume shot that shows the difference, and they are so much brighter!

Thanks for the help, appreciated